Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Today we honor Coenraad Johannes van Houten (1801-1887) for his invention of cocoa powder. This powder (picture right) let people enjoy great things like Dutch Chocolate and chocolate milk. The trick was that van Houten found a cheap way to bring the fat content of simply ground cocoa beans to a point where it could be digested easily. The process is more complicated than I care to describe here. See the link below for more information. Other chocolate makers built upon this process to ultimately develop the chocolate we enjoy today.

The van Houten family owned the Van Houten Company, founded by our honoree's father. Though the company alone generated great wealth for the Dutch people, the invention of cocoa powder is why we honor van Houten today. His personal drive to grow his chocolate company has brought joy and wealth to all of us chocolate lovers around the world!